There are a number of people doing remarkable things in the country to improve the quality of life.
SAMUEL MUHINDO has compiled a list of individuals whose works are positively impacting society through inspiration, skilling, business, mentorship, activism, or even innovations. The individuals are recognized for creating a profound influence to inspire other Ugandans.
Solomon King Benge, founder and executive director, Fundi Bots
Benge founded Fundi Bots to help young people especially those in school to understand science through robotics. He intends to deliver hands-on science and technology education to one million African children by 2030.
Between 2015 and now, Fundi Bots has scaled up from 30 schools to approximately 180 schools training about 17,200 students and 410 teachers from across Uganda.
Benge believes that building robots, learning to code and working with artificial intelligence is the best way to equip young people with world-class science and technology skills.
Ojok Okello, founder and CEO, Okere City
Ojok retired from his influential job as senior assistant secretary at Makerere University to concentrate on his social transformation project dubbed Okere City.
Okere is located in Otuke district, Northern Uganda. The city hosts an adult education centre, a primary school, a health centre, and a village SACCO, among others. To fund activities at Okere, Ojok relies on shea butter. The London School of Economics graduate has inspired a global rethinking of self-sustaining village development models.
TMS Ruge, founder/CEO of Raintree Farms and Qwezi Beauty Moringa oil
He runs Raintree Farms, a value-added social enterprise based in Masindi, Uganda. He is mainly focused on the sustainable growing and processing of moringa oleifera crops.
TMS has partnered with farmers to supply organically-certified Moringa Oleifera of the highest quality to the nutritional, beauty, and health markets around the world. In 2020, TMS launched the Qwezi Beauty Moringa oil, an upscale Ugandan beauty brand with a global presence.
Livingstone Mukasa, CEO/co-founder at Four One Financial
Mukasa is a seasoned entrepreneur, coach and mentor. Between 2009 and 2012, Mukasa ran a Venture Capital Fund based in Kampala backed with one million dollars.
Using his platform on Twitter, Mukasa offers free tips on how to build an affordable house, and how to save to invest. He draws these hints from his vast well of experience as a fund manager.
Abaas Mpindi, CEO and founder, Media Challenge Initiative
Mpindi runs a media training programme for young journalists under instruction at universities and other institutions of higher learning.
Under their several programmes, MCI has provided rigorous hands-on training for young journalists with the latest media equipment. His fellowship programmes have provided a recruitment pool of young talent into Ugandan newsrooms.
Michael Niyitegeka, programmes director, Refactory
With approximately two decades of experience in the ICT sector, Niyitegeka runs Refactory-a unique program that seeks to equip young talent with industry software development skills.
Hosted at Clarke International University, Refactory offers an intense introduction to technology designed by the industry’s best to meet the industry’s needs on a global scale.
Pastor Moses Mukisa, Head, Worship Harvest Ministries
Mukisa’s high corporate governance exuded under Worship Harvest Ministries has provided an outstanding direction on what religious leaders can do for their flock away from asking for the offertory.
He runs Harvest International School in Naalya, a Cambridge certificate-accredited school with affordable tuition. This is unlike most exorbitant schools offering international curricula in Uganda.
On December 11, 2022, it was announced that they had bought 14 new properties for ministry in addition to building the Worship Harvest Mukono cathedral in five months.
The graduates from the Harvest Leadership School published 146 books in 2022, alone. It is not easy to quantify the substantiated and long-lasting impact of this ministry.
Andy Kristian Agaba, entrepreneur
He is the founder of Hiinga, Inc., a faith-driven impact investing fund that invests in values-driven entrepreneurs to create jobs and transform culture in east Africa.
Hiinga provides debt to growing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the education, healthcare, agriculture and manufacturing sectors to catalyze job creation. He holds an MBA in Business and Government studies from Harvard.
Dr Lawrence Muganga, educationst, vice chancellor, Victoria University
There are many areas in higher education that Dr Muganga, the vice chancellor of Victoria University, is particularly passionate about, and ever since he returned to Uganda, he has become a committed evangelist with a mission to transform higher education to make it work for people and the country.
His drive to change the education narrative in Uganda includes renewing the promise of higher education, closing the digital divide, and embracing competency-based education in higher education.
Dr Muganga is also advocating for a student-centered education design and a tech-first mentality that is pragmatic in solving the real problems that individuals face in accessing and thriving in higher education.
Joel Aita, CEO and chairman, Joadah Consults
Aita leads Joadah Consult, a regional provider of professional technical and management support services within the Great Lakes region.
With him as company CEO, the revenues of Joadah Consults have more than tripled. Away from development infrastructure, Aita is also the chairperson and founder of Arua Hill Sports Club.
Herman Kambugu, Ultra Runner
Herman can only be accused of being an ultra-participant in almost every sport. When he first climbed to the top of Mountain Rwenzori in 2020, Herman spent seven days on the trail.
In 2021, he returned to the mountain and spent 19 hours on the trail. Kambugu raised $20,000 by running 100km within two days. Proceeds from the run were used to support families struggling with the Covid-19 pandemic that came with lockdowns.
Jacqueline Asiimwe, Founder and CEO of Civsource Africa
Asiimwe and the team at Civsource Africa are (re)shaping African philanthropy while growing the culture of giving, celebrating local giving, and ingraining it in the fabric of our society.
It is a path-setting process that gives ownership to individuals over local processes – whether in the civil society or private sector. Civsource provides thought leadership on strategic financing models for effective philanthropy and civic engagement.
Eng Bainomugisha, Team Lead at AirQo
Bainomugisha is an associate professor of Computer Science at Makerere University. He leads a team of young people together with whom they are using artificial intelligence to clean up the air around cities in Africa.
Bainomugisha has a dream of rolling the air quality monitors across Uganda before he takes over the entire continent. He was recently recognised by the US mission in Uganda as the most outstanding alumni of US exchange programmes in ICT.
Benjamin Rukwengye, founder, Boundless Minds
At Boundless Minds, Rukwengye and the entire team are mentoring young people aged between three and 30 years.
He trains young people in 21st-century skills to make their transition from school to work with ease. Some of the skills offered to these young people include critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, curiosity, collaboration and communication.
Manuela Pacutho Mulondo, founder, The Cradle
She has partnered with families, organizations and the government to create safe spaces for child care and lactation for children aged between zero and three years.
In January 2022, Mulondo launched the cradle academy, a next-generation kindergarten. It utilizes a fusion of the local curriculum with a curriculum that introduces sciences, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics to the children.
Loukman Ali, film director
Ali has redefined the role of film in elevating local stories to an international audience. During the just-ended Covid-19 lockdown, Ali’s film Girl in the Yellow Jumper became the first Ugandan movie on Netflix, a global movie streaming giant.
His artistry when directing movies has inspired several young people who dream about acting, and his movie direction can lead you to the global stage.
Ham Sserunjogi, CEO and Co-founder, Chipper Cash
With a presence in five countries in Africa, Chipper Cash helps families to stay connected and securely send money across Africa with incredible ease and peace of mind.
Chipper Cash’s cross-border payments infrastructure also helps merchants and businesses in Africa accept payments on the internet with no friction. Chipper Cash is currently valued at approximately $2bn.
Godfrey Kuteesa, Director, Boyes Mentorship Programme
Kuteesa hosts a nine-day-long mentorship boot camp for young boys to help them turn into strong men in society. Under the boot camp, Kuteesa provides these young boys with real-world experiential training.
Dr Davis Musinguzi, co-founder and CEO, Rockethealth
Musinguzi and the team at Rockethealth are breaking barriers to how healthcare is carried out in a developing economy like Uganda.
Rockethealth is championing telemedicine. Patients do not have to go to the hospital for a diagnosis. You have to request from Rockethealth and a medical person shall come to you to take your samples, perform tests and then get results within the shortest time possible.
Maxima Nsimenta, CEO and founder of Livara Cosmetics
Approximately five years ago, Nsimenta abandoned a high-flying corporate job with global oil giant Schlumberger to start Livara Cosmetics, the manufacturer of 100 per cent natural organic hair and body care products.
Nsimenta has an established presence in major cities around the globe. Her attention to detail and devotion to ‘Africanness’ has thrust her into the limelight as a creative business personality. Nsimenta’s gentle rise to the top in Uganda’s cosmetic industry is a good African story.
Shamim Nabuuma Kaliisa, entrepreneur
She is the founder and executive director of Chil Artificial Intelligence Lab. The lab offers mobile cancer screening, which later incorporated the use of artificial intelligence-guided e-oncology services (to detect cervical and breast cancer).
Nabuuma and the team at Chil also incorporate drone services for easier transportation of cervical cancer specimens from rural areas to laboratories without women having to travel long distances out of the villages. ‘Mama Cancer’ is a winner of the Takeda Young Entrepreneur Award 2018, Young African Entrepreneur Award 2018, Social Impact Finalist AWIEF Awards 2018, has received an Honourable Mention at the Maathai Impact Award 2019, and was chosen among the top 10 artificial intelligence companies founded in Africa by Google for start-ups.
Peter Nyeko, Co-founder and Director, Mandulis Energy
Nyeko co-founded Mandulis Energy, a clean-tech start-up and social enterprise focused on developing and deploying new technologies and approaches to deliver energy that is affordable, reliable, sustainable, and capable of driving economic development, in urban, rural and refugee communities.
Africa’s largest grid-tied biomass gasification power plant. He holds a master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from Bristol University, UK.
Dr Victoria Nalule, Energy and Mining expert
Nalule holds a PhD in International Energy Law and Policy from the University of Dundee in Scotland, United Kingdom. She is one of the few people who got her PhD in less than 3 years below the age of 30 years.
She has advised African governments on oil, gas and mining projects including training officials from the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, appeared as an expert witness before the Commission of Inquiry into Land matters in Uganda; presented comments on the South African Petroleum Bill before the country’s Policy Makers among other achievements.
Solomon Jagwe, award winning film director 3D Artist at Sowl Studios
Although Jagwe was born in Uganda, he moved to the USA to pursue his Arts degree where he met Kim his wife. With two children to bring up in a foreign land, the Jagwes launched Sowl studios to provide content learning opportunities for their two children living in the USA.
They wanted their children to become familiar with their rich and diverse Ugandan cultural heritage and Luganda culture.
Sowl studios produce short video animated clips of two children Nkoza and Nankya. The stories are voiced in both Luganda and English. Although Jagwe intended to satisfy his in-house challenges, sharing clips through YouTube and Facebook has helped more Ugandan parents in the diaspora raise children aware of events in Africa.
Source: The Observer
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